City National Bank of Florida MSD Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

City National Bank of Florida MSD acquired a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 541 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% in the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,719 shares during the period. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund grew its position in shares of MSCI by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 78,111 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,867,000 after purchasing an additional 23,649 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 59,741 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,845,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp raised its stake in MSCI by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $689,180,000 after purchasing an additional 49,679 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $559.71 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $475.32 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $551.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $579.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.36.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.